Falling per chance to change
by nana chan the weird
Summary: *Kakashi time travel fic* He didn’t have any qualms with them except for the teeny part about going to hell if he failed but he supposed there must be some sacrifices to be made when dealing with a God.
1. Chapter One: The chance

**Title: **Falling, per chance, to change

**Author:** nana chan the weird

**Rating:** PG-13

**Pairing:** Unknown as of yet.

**Summary**: Kakashi scanned over the thirty or some odd papers and realized that they were all in order. He didn't have any qualms with them except for the teeny part about going to hell if he failed but he supposed there must be some sacrifices to be made when dealing with a god.

**Thanks**: Thanks to my beta reader, Japyra. She pointed out some grammar mistakes and that Kakashi seemed a little bit of a flat character, I tried to remedy that as best I could. Also thanks to all who review, reviews make me happy and feel welcome. Criticism is welcome so long as it is pertinent.

**Author's note:** Well it's the beginning of another story. My other one probably will only go on until the end of the chuunin exams anyway. I was struck by this idea after reading one of the many Naruto goes back in time and something happens to forever alter Konoha's history fics. I thought 'Why not Kakashi? He would do better surely then a ninja who, no matter how much I love him, seems to lack some brains at the most necessary times.' I'm talking about in canon here, so no offense to anyone who thinks that this might be directed at their story. It's not. Also I was watching an AMV entitled Kakashi's life with the song "this is your life" Anyways on with the story…

Chapter One: The chance

He was falling.

Subconsciously, he knew that taking on a team would be the death of him; he just wasn't aware that it would come true in such a literal sense. Killed by a student, how overused. His eyes were closed; he could still see his teams' faces as they waited for him at a bridge. It was another team mission that he was late to, three hours and four minutes late to be exact. Sasuke stood there scowling at the world in general with the slightest outward signs of annoyance brushed across his face; Naruto had managed to spend the last three hours annoying him and was in for a thrashing whenever they next sparred. Sakura stood there ignoring Naruto's rather pathetic attempts to get her to pay attention to him, her eyebrows were furrowed in frustration; Kakashi could practically hear her screaming to herself. Naruto was squatting down staring at Sasuke like he was some sort of mystery. The thought of his team made him smile.

His team- his smile faded from his face and was soon replaced with a frown- he had failed them, like he had so many others. He had left them to the figurative wolves by not teaching them the most important thing that a shinobi must learn, _teamwork_. It was naturally harder for shinobis to trust anyone but themselves, relying on others was more often than not viewed as a weakness; yet it was the most necessary skill to learn before battle. The death rate of shinobis that worked 

alone was startlingly higher than those who worked in teams. Team Seven- like the two previous team seven's- fell apart due to lack of teamwork and comradeship. The members of his team had held so much potential. And yet…

Konoha used to be the subject of much envy from all the other shinobi villages. It was known for constantly producing geniuses. People, who in the long run, just managed to add more pain to the already painful village. He was one of those people; the ones who caused so much suffering regardless of his intent, it rang true throughout his heart. All he could feel was the pain that he had brought onto others, ones who would have done well if they had never met him and found someone else. He had watched many people go through his bell test, some even had managed to impress him many a year ago, but none had ever come close to doing anything quite like team seven had.

Haruno Sakura, the only female of the team, had the most precise and accurate chakra control he'd ever had the pleasure of seeing. He had ignored her in favor of her two male teammates; because of this she'd never learn that she had an aptitude for genjutsu. Because he ignored her she had been forced into asking someone else to help her learn. It wasn't that she hadn't done well as a medic ninja, she had, but she really would have excelled beyond anyone's belief in genjutsu. She had the makings of becoming the next genjutsu expert. Konoha hadn't had one since Ochiai Keiko (1). Had he only used her crush on Sasuke to an advantage perhaps things would have changed… He could have told her Sasuke only liked strong girls then proceed to accidentally leave behind a scroll of genjutsus, if she didn't believe him he could have made it work somehow…if only.

Uchiha Sasuke had been their year's number one rookie. After the Uchiha massacre he needed to be able to trust people again, not constantly wonder if he was good enough to handle various people's, including Kakashi's own, expectations. He had really held a lot of potential; he needed to learn not techniques like chidori that could kill; but ones that would simply maim or wound. He had the potential to become an elemental specialist. Konoha had never had the privilege of housing such a specialist. Probably because of their annoying tendency to make all of their genius become insane and abandon the village.

Uzumaki Naruto had a hard life, that much was without doubt. He lived on his own, and thought that no one cared about him, he dealt with the villagers hate, and the ninja's scorn every day. He had a permanent smile that could be seen on his face every day no matter what happened. What he needed was respect, not someone constantly pointing out his mistakes for the entire world to see. He, out of all of them, needed Kakashi's help the most and; yet he got the least of it. Konoha's number one unpredictable ninja had the potential to truly become the Hokage, what he had always dreamed of. Thanks to him that might not happen since his new aspiration was to bring Sasuke back to Konoha.

Perhaps he shouldn't have played favorites… then maybe… But none of that mattered now because he was falling.

Hatake Kakashi awoke to find a room like none he'd ever seen before. The room held no windows, doors, or even walls for that matter. He didn't know why he had called it a room but it 

had a room-like quality to it. It was really just space. Empty. Open. Infinite Space. He didn't know why but he felt strangely at peace. It was most likely the trails of incense he saw whisking through the air that induced him into this peace-like lull, incense always had calmed him. And then, a deep, booming voice interrupted his contemplation.

"Hatake Kakashi," it said, "you are in the afterlife's waiting area."

'Really, that explains so much' Kakashi thought sarcastically. It actually did but Kakashi didn't feel like admitting as much to some voice he had never heard before. As a ninja he was naturally suspicious, suspicions were ingrained into him and came out rather forceful at times, especially when he was somewhere he didn't recognize.

"It is our job to judge your life and place you where you best belong. You seem to have been dwelling on your mistakes and thinking about what you should have done. Perhaps you want to know what will happen to your team now that you're gone?"

The voice paused, waiting for an answer. Kakashi's eyes widened slightly more than normal, something that would not have usually been perceived. How had he known that he was just wondering what would become of them? The voice resumed when the speaker saw Kakashi nod.

"Uzumaki Naruto will take your death the hardest and will defect to join Uchiha Sasuke, who will in turn kill him. Haruno Sakura upon learning of Naruto's death will renounce being a ninja and be killed by Orochimaru in an attack on Konoha. Sasuke's body will become Orochimaru's new host." Kakashi closed his eyes.

'All of this happened because I didn't keep my promise to sensei and Obito. I really should have…' He thought.

"I will allow you another chance. I will let you relive your life from the day before you meet your team. I do have some conditions. First, you must make them work as a team. None of this stupid rivalry stuff. Second, Naruto must trust his team enough to be able to tell them about Kyuubi before he meets Jiraya. Third, Sasuke must be able to tell the team about his family before the chuunin exams. Finally, Sakura must be taught to fight. Do you accept these conditions?" The voice asked.

Kakashi simply nodded; astonished that he was getting a chance to correct the mistakes that he made with his team.

"Very well." The voice said.

Suddenly papers materialized in front of Kakashi. "You will need to sign all of these as a written agreement that you will follow all the requirements necessary and will agree to all the terms. You can read over it if you wish put all it says is what we talked about."

Kakashi scanned over the thirty or some odd papers and realized that they were all in order. He didn't have any qualms with them except for the teeny part about going to hell if he failed but he 

supposed there must be some sacrifices to be made when dealing with a god. Kakashi scrawled his name across the paperwork and set it down when he was done. The papers were swept off to some unknown henchmen's desk (2).

Kakashi's first thought was that the sun needed to die a slow and painful death for having woken him up from a dream at a chance to change things. His second thought was his bed was extremely comfortable. His third was…wait…bed? He jumped up. He was supposed to be on a mission so he shouldn't be in a bed. He looked around and found that he was in his room of places for him to be. He then proceeded to grab the calendar (3) off of his nightstand. Well it looked like it really wasn't a dream. He was four years in the past and according to the calendar a day before he began to royally mess up three shinobi's lives and dreams. He closed his eyes and thanked Kami-sama for giving him this opportunity to change his life. He started off his day by visiting the memorial stone. Looking at the thing that he had long since memorized he realized how much of his life he spent regretting his mistakes, blind to the ones that he was making until it was too late. He had become trapped in a vicious cycle. He knew how to break it.

"Well Obito. Looks like it will be a while before I will come and see you again. I need to let go or so they say. I need to move on. There is going to be a genin team that will actually pass. They will need my attention and I can't do that if I am preoccupied with wallowing in my past mistakes. I might as well let it go. Nothing I can do about it now. So for now this is Goodbye. I'll see you later." Kakashi said to Obito. As he stood up he was able to stand a little straighter, his purpose gave him a sort of confidence that he had so desperately needed. His eyes cleared and he realized that his rival, Maito Gai, was standing behind him with a curious look upon his face.

"How much did you hear?" Kakashi questioned the usually loud, abrupt ninja.

The man in front of him still seemed shocked and serious, a look that was very rarely seen on Konoha's green beast. Gai took a moment to study Kakashi. It had been quiet a while since he had last seen Kakashi with such a grim look on his face. He looked serious which hadn't been seen in Konoha since the last time Rin visited.

"Just you saying goodbye to Obito. What's up that you need to say goodbye?" Gai asked in surprise.

Kakashi sighed in relief. At least his secret wasn't out. "Ah… I just decided to give up on my regrets and move forward."

He stated trying to act as if it was nothing big and no one should worry about his sudden change in personality. He couldn't change everything at once or the whole of Konoha would become suspicious.

End chapter one

Notes

1) In case you were wondering if there was any fact from this name. No. I got the name from the last name of Kurenai's voice actor (Japanese, obviously) and the first name is from one of my friends names. The name is in traditional format. Last and then first name.

2) This reminded me of Koenma from YuYu Hakusho. He would always have a stack of papers on his desk and would try and shift them off onto his henchmen. They would always come back to him though.

3) It's an Icha Icha calendar. It's Kakashi what else would it be?


	2. Chapter Two: The impressions

Title: Falling, per chance, to change

**Title: **Falling, per chance, to change

**Author:** nana chan the weird

**Rating:** PG-13

**Pairing:** Unknown as of yet.

**Summary**: They accepted that while it was a little strange there were things that all the village ninja had such as Gai's spandex, which was emotionally scarring to the youth, or Anko's obsession with pointy objects. They could deal with something as simple as someone who was on average two hours late to everything.

**Author's note: **I know it's been a while guys. Sorry but it is senior year and colleges and research papers let's just say this year is not all it's been cracked up to be. Plus I lost the outline for this chapter (yes I outline my chapters) and, my computer crashed and this chapter was almost done but it was deleted from my hard drive, it was horrible.

Recap: Kakashi sighed in relief. At least his secret wasn't out. "Ah… I just decided to give up on my regrets and move forward." He stated trying to act as if it was nothing big and no one should worry about his sudden change in personality. He couldn't change everything at once or the whole of Konoha would become suspicious.

Chapter two: The impressions

It was known throughout all of Konoha that Kakashi was indeed always late. It was an accepted fact that when dealing with him you had to build your entire schedule around him. The earliest that Kakashi had ever showed up had been an hour after the event was suppose to start while the latest was two weeks afterwards. They accepted that while it was a little strange there were little things that all the village ninja had such as Gai's spandex, which was emotionally scarring to the youth, or Anko's obsession with pointy objects. They could deal with something as simple as someone who was on average two hours late to everything.

So once it had finally become part of their schedule it was very like Kakashi to change it. The Hokage had called a meeting and he only arrived five minutes late, not even the last to arrive. There was a lot of running around in panic. People were not used to having to be ready on time so they weren't. It was shock to them when their simple routine was disrupted. While the panic that was reflected in people's faces was quiet humorous Kakashi was steadily getting annoyed with all around him. "If you don't get your act together I am leaving and not coming back for two days." Kakashi whispered in a terrifying voice that was enough to chill even the Hokage's bones.

All of a sudden everything became ordered and nice and neat. The Hokage then started the meeting. As it dragged on Kakashi found himself not listening he already knew who his team would be and he was slightly anxious to get on with it. "And finally Kakashi will be given-" the Hokage was cut off. "Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, and Uzumaki Naruto." The Hokage gave Kakashi a long evaluating look. 'How would he know that? I told him that I would give him Uchiha; however, I never said who else would be with him He shouldn't have even heard of Haruno unless her father's been spewing things again. He always was a horrible drunk.' "Yes, exactly. That's all everyone is dismissed to go gather information on your new team, everyone except for Kakashi." The jounin filed out gossiping with hints and whispers of an alien abducting Kakashi and changing him with an obviously more polite one.

"Come with me." There was no need to look at who said or who it was said to. Kakashi followed stopping only to nod minutely at the ANBU he knew were placed all around the Hokage's office. "I don't know how you knew who your team is I don't want to know. I thought I would take you to their houses before you go to meet them."

Kakashi nodded, it was all he could do. They exited the large Hokage building stopping along the way only to tell a stray chuunin that they were going out and the Hokage would be back in a couple of hours. Sakura's house was the furthest away, so they went there first so that they could slowly make their way to the Hokage tower.

Sakura's room was a bit of surprise to Kakashi, before he had only been shown Naruto's house so that he might have a bit of understanding towards the "Demon Brat", something that was quiet unnecessary. Her room was very much like her. On the outside the room portrayed a nice organized appearance but once you looked certain places like under the bed it was obvious that Sakura was not a huge cleaner. Her walls had once upon-a-time been painted green but a newly added coat of paint had changed the color to her trademark pink. Her room wasn't filled with obsessively girly stuff, though Kakashi had a feeling that if looked at her bathroom he'd be sure to find some. There were scrolls lying in a pile on the floor next to her bed, and a desk for her to study at that showcased a western influence. The room altogether screamed Sakura. A drawer in dresser, which was also pink, was slightly opened and Kakashi saw a glimpse of an old battered picture. It was of Sakura and her family, her mother looked like a normal housewife, even having gone so far as to wear an apron in the picture, her father looked happy, this must have been before the accident. Sakura's father had also been a ninja, not a well known one but a fearsome one nonetheless, or at least he had been until he was captured by a pair of kunoichi that according to him "were hell on earth". They not only battered his pride by easily defeating him they also cleaned him out of all he had on his person, including the scroll that he was supposed to deliver, which resulted in a mission failure. He was now known to frequent bars and pubs sometimes coming home in an undeniably rotten mood. Sakura was usually instructed to go over to Ino's at such times.

Kakashi surveyed the room one last time and nodded his head and made to leave. The Hokage looked at him and started explaining. "This is Haruno Sakura's room, she is the kunoichi on your team, and according to her stats she has near flawless chakra control, is very weak in Taijutsu, excels in Genjutsu, has virtually no stamina, and is mediocre in jiujutsu." Kakashi couldn't understand why the Hokage only just now said this but nodded his head anyway; this was as he remembered Sakura, starting out.

The journey to Sasuke's house was quiet. Kakashi was steeling himself. The last time he had entered the Uchiha complex it was to tell the Uchiha of Obito's death and sacrifice. They were only interested when Kakashi mentioned that Obito had awoken his sharingan, and that only because they wanted to know if Kakashi was able to use the eye properly. After that Kakashi did his best to avoid any and all Uchiha, including the supposed Genius Itachi that had ended up destroying Sasuke's life.

The Uchiha Complex was a deserted desolate area compared to what it once was. All the shops and homes were closed, covered in a sort of dusty, grimy filth that Kakashi had not seen the like of before. As they neared the only building still in use Kakashi couldn't he but dwell on what side effects living in a place that obviously only haunted Sasuke could have had on the kid. "Hokage-sama", he started off politely trying to gain information from his superior, "why was Sasuke not moved from this place as a child? It couldn't have been good for him to have woken up every day just to be reminded yet again of Itachi and his family." The Sandaime closed his eyes, a wave of emotions flooded his face starting with weariness and ending with grief. "We tried at first to make him but Sasuke had such terrifying dreams that no villager could take it. We couldn't have given him to a ninja because they would constantly be away on missions. We couldn't make it a mission because even back then Sasuke was very adamantly against supposed charity. In the end he came to us demanding to live in his house, which was in all technicalities his, and we had no legal way to keep him from it." Again Kakashi could see this.

Sasuke's room was simplistic nothing but what was necessary, all that was in his room was a bed, a desk, and a nightstand. The room was dark, with the curtains perpetually drawn, the perfect brooding environment for someone of Sasuke's nature. The desk was not tidy in the slightest with things pushed over to various sides in a rush to get to work on something else, something that could help progress his revenge. It really was a shame that he was devoted to such a purpose, instead of something that would help everyone. Kakashi went on his way, having seen enough to realize that Sasuke was trapped in his past partly because of where he lived. The Hokage said nothing figuring that Kakashi knew enough about Sasuke as it was.

Naruto's apartment complex was an old worn down building that looked like it had actually been a rather fine establishment in a previous life. The only reason why Naruto was allowed to stay there in the first place was because the owner needed the money. Naruto's apartment was actually rather big for one person, and Kakashi wondered how on Earth Naruto was able to fit so much junk into his apartment. The floor resembled an obstacle course with scrolls and clothes and trash and other useless things blocking the way. The bed looked like it was in a similar state. Kakashi looked at what Naruto had; ramen in the cupboards, expired milk on the table, and something furry in the refrigerator. The smell was pungent and it was all Kakashi could do to himself from barfing then and there, he had an indescribable urge to scrub every centimeter of the fridge. Again he found himself drawing similarities, Naruto was a wild sort of person so it would make sense that he had his own "unique" organization method, by which I mean things strewn all over the floor and some even on the ceiling fan that makes one wonder if Naruto even knew where everything was. Kakashi knew he did, he had once tested Naruto on it and the brat had passed with flying colors. At the time Naruto called it an "open filing system".

"Naruto was a ward of the state until he was ten", Sandaime's voice permeated the stifling substance called air that could supposedly be inhaled, Kakashi wasn't to sure of this theory anymore, especially since the furry thing. "When he was ten we started giving him a monthly allowance that should cover everything that a normal boy would need, but he's always needed more then a normal person to eat. He does love ramen, luckily, because it's one of the quickest least expensive meals around meaning that he can eat all of it that he wants to. All that food in his cupboard will probably only last him a few days." He continued. Kakashi tried to remember to look shocked at such information but he didn't think it mattered because no could see his expressions behind his mask anyway.

They left the apartment and returned to the Hokage tower. "You may go meet your team. They are in room 205" Kakashi nodded and went on his way.

His next problem he realized was to get them to work together as an actual team might. A solution came to his mind and he grinned a wicked grin that was lost to all around him because of his face mask.

Uzumaki Naruto stood facing his "teammates" with a slight feeling of deja-vu. All traces of this thought stopped when the door opened and their new sensei walked in. He was tall, compared to the twelve year olds, with pointy silver hair that made it seem like he had just woken up. He was eyeing everyone most likely mentally sizing them up. "First impression- not impressive".

Anger boiled up in Naruto. He had not worked so hard for so long to finally become a genin and then be looked down on. "What do you mean not impressive?" He screamed at what was now thin air. Uchiha Sasuke eyed Naruto and said "He went to the roof". Naruto mentally cursed himself for looking like a fool in front of Sakura-chan and went along to the roof with Sakura-chan and Sasuke-teme.

He met up with the mysterious-silver-haired-jerk-who-didn't-know-talent-when-he-obviously-saw-it. "Please introduce yourselves, likes, dislikes, dreams, and hobbies."

"Umm… could you demonstrate?" Sakura asked nervously. Naruto thought that he saw what could only be called a sadistic grin on Kakashi-sensei's face but he couldn't be sure.

"My name is Hatake Kakashi, you may call me Kakashi-sensei, I have no desire to tell you guys about my likes or dislikes, dreams for the future…, well I have lots of hobbies… Next you, Blondie." Kakashi stated pointing at Naruto. The group stared at him in disbelief until Naruto did as he was told.

"Yosh, My name is Uzumaki Naruto, I like cup ramen, what I like even more is the restaurant ramen Iruka-sensei buys for my, I dislike the three minutes it take to cook ramen, my dream is to become the Hokage, and I guess my hobbies are pranks." It was all Kakashi could do to not laugh. He'd forgotten how amusing Naruto was while talking about ramen. "Next, brooding dude", he said while pointing at Sasuke. A sour look crossed the boys face but he proceeded anyway.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke, there are many things I dislike but nothing I like, Dreams…I have an 'ambition' to resurrect my clan and to kill a certain man" 'I notice that he avoids saying anything about hobbies, very masterful indeed.' Kakashi thought. "You're up Pinkie" Sakura blinked, looked around for a second and realized was talking to her.

"I'm Haruno Sakura, the thing I like…" she looked at Sasuke, "the person I like…ummm…" again she looked at Sasuke while blushing and squealing all at once "should I say my dream..?, the thing I dislike is NARUTO, my hobby is…" Again with the looking at Sasuke. Ah yes the infamous crush. Infamous for a reason.

"Allrighty then. That's enough of that. Meet at the bridge tomorrow at seven, don't eat breakfast. We're going to test your survival skills." Kakashi began to walk away. "Oh yeah, if you don't pass you all will be sent back to the academy. Good Luck." A chuckle formed at the back of his throat. They were in for some fun

End of Chapter Two.

End Notes: So I really don't know where all the stuff about Sakura's dad came from. I think I just want to give her a little more depth happens when something is revealed about a persons past. Sorry If you all haven't realized this yet but there will be no character bashing, simply improvement.


	3. Chapter Three: The trials

**Title: **Falling, per chance, to change

**Author:** nana chan the weird

**Rating:** PG-13

**Pairing:** Unknown as of yet.

**Summary**:Stupid things trying to show us people's misconceptions about ninja's. Like anyone ever wears a mask or uses sleeping gas or smoke bombs now-a-days.

**Author's note: **So this chapter has gone through some major renovations. Around eight different times I rewrote this chapter because it didn't come out like I wanted it to come out. It was the most time I've ever taken on writing a chapter of any story ever. So be happy that it's finally out. Also vote for who you want to learn what. The choices are Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura to learn how to use either the sai, the nunchucks, or the bō. If you have no idea what any of these weapons are I suggest that you wiki them. Or if you ever watched The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles they were all weapons used by the main cast on there.

Recap: "Allrighty then. That's enough of that. Meet at the bridge tomorrow at seven, don't eat breakfast. We're going to test your survival skills." Kakashi began to walk away. "Oh yeah, if you don't pass you all will be sent back to the academy. Good Luck."

* * *

Chapter Three: The Trial

Kakashi had attempted to arrive early; he even got there on time, something that in the days Before Obito's Death (or BOD as he liked to call it) was not uncommon. On the way to the bridge he recalled the team seven that he knew and loved. Fond memories filled him: Naruto's and Sasuke's fights about who was the best, or the worst, at everything; Sakura's reactions to his excuses for being late; and the team trying to plot against him for various reasons. He'd heard all of their excuses for fighting, and while they'd held little amusement then, they were now things that he missed. How long ago had it been since he'd heard Sasuke's "hn" and Naruto's "he's just so…ugh"? They were so cute back then. Oh wait…maybe that was now, hmm… Anyway he could not allow that senseless rivalry of theirs to carry on anymore. It would separate the team, again. As for Sakura she needed to be brought back down to earth or something, anything to help her get over her prejudices.

The three of them had always managed to surprise Kakashi, they could work together if the situation warranted it but they normally didn't so when he arrived at the bridge and saw all of them there talking, like normal people who didn't hate each other he was beyond surprised. There was no reason for them to be acting this way, who knew that they could get along this early on. There was something fishy here and he was going to find out what it was.

It's normal for a ninja to hide, it's one of their most used abilities after all, but there were many who would have found the sight of Hatake Kakashi hiding in a tree from his would be team to be the funniest thing that they'd ever seen. Luckily no one saw it, so Kakashi didn't have to bear any laughter about it, or at least not at this point in time. He placed himself in a tree that was close enough for him to hear the trio's conversation, since that was what he was most confused about.

"The sky's just so blue today. It's a good day; I would have thought that it would be raining or something like it does in those old cliché movies that they used to make us watch at the academy. Stupid things trying to show us people's misconceptions about ninja's. Like anyone ever wears a mask or uses sleeping gas or smoke bombs now-a-days." It seemed like Kakashi was going to have teach Naruto something about a certain group of ninja's, the Mekakushi, who still masked their faces and used smoke bombs. Plus he took offense at it being implied that masks were outdated, they were really a lot more fun then people let on. After all the only reason that Kakashi wore the mask in the first place was so he didn't scare babies, like he had back when he'd first met Naruto all those years ago.

Then it began to rain. Really it was going to anyway; anyone who paid attention to things like the weather would have noticed the sheer amount of moistness that was in the air. Apparently neither Naruto nor Sakura paid attention to the weather though. "Naruuuuuto, now look what you did. You cursed us." It was amazing that Sakura's voice could reach the pitch that it did whenever she called Naruto's name. Everyone except for her winced at the sound, amazed at the sheer lung capacity that a twelve year old malnourished girl was capable of. Her face was contorted with anger and disbelief that her new "team mate" could have done such a thing to her.

"Sakura, calm down. It's obvious that it was going to rain anyway. We can't pretend to be working together if you are going to blame Naruto for the weather." Sasuke's voice was dull, and sort of blended together and 'wait did he just say "pretend to work together"? How would he know that working together was important?' This, it seemed, did not bode well for Kakashi. He sighed. Well it defeated the entire point of the test if they already knew the answer.

"By the way, I was wondering if either of you knew why the Hokage told us anyway. It seems a little unfair for him to have told us the answer already. It's like he doesn't trust us to figure it out ourselves." Sakura always was the most curious about why people did things, unless it involved Naruto, then she normally just assumed that there was no logical reason for what he did and never tried to figure it out.

"It's not that he doesn't trust us to figure it out. It's just that he wants someone to watch over Kakashi and who better to do it then a team. Apparently from what I've heard Kakashi has changed a lot and it has the entire Hokage's tower in an uproar." Sasuke and Sakura blinked, and blinked again. They had no idea how Naruto had known that, it confused them to no end. Naruto looked like he realized their confusion and went on to explain. "I want to be Hokage so the obvious thing to do is to hang out around the Hokage to find out how things are done. Plus I was taken there a lot when I first started doing pranks and caught on to the different people around there. That must have been where I'd seen Kakashi-sensei before. It's been bugging me all day."

Ah well that explained one mystery. "Dobe, why do want to be Hokage anyway? Surely there must be a reason?" Who knew that Sasuke would actually care about that sort of thing, strange how much Kakashi was learning just from this one conversation.

"Well, I'm sure that you've all noticed that I'm not well liked around here, right?" When he received nods from the two Naruto continued. "When I was five, I'd lost the ball that I was playing with. I went looking for it since it was my favorite toy. I finally found it an alley where there were a whole bunch of elder men that were smoking. As I walked by them their voices took on a meaner tone, and their eyes turned from uncaring to mean in a split second. Even back then I knew that they didn't like me and I knew that I didn't like them for it. I almost had my ball when one of them, who I now know was slightly drunk, said something that I'll never forget. He said that the only way he'd ever even think of me as a person would be if I became Hokage. That's how my dream started but after a while it took on a new form, I wanted to be recognized, even respected just like the Hokage was." He reached up and rubbed his hair, laughing a little sheepishly at having told the story. Then it fell silent for a while, everyone was caught up in their own thoughts.

Just as Kakashi was about to step in Sakura began to speak. "So did either of you find out anything else about Kakashi-sensei? I did but I'm not sure it should be trusted." Sasuke nodded.

"According to the rumors something bad once happened in his past. I'm not sure what I couldn't get it out of anyone. They mentioned something about an old team mate dieing because of him and a personality change but they didn't say much else. Someone also mentioned him being strong. He used to be in the ANBU but quit." It made sense that they would tell Sasuke, they were probably thrilled he talked to them at all.

"No one told me anything." They wouldn't have told Naruto anything, would they? After all they still viewed him as a demon brat, a view that really should be changed soon.

"Well according to my father he's never passed a team. And my mom says that he was trained by the Yondaime himself. So he must be really strong." Sakura flinched slightly when she mentioned her father. Kakashi could imagine that he wasn't too happy about there being kunoichi in the family, especially since his accident but even before he didn't have the greatest amount of respect for the kunoichi.

Perhaps it was time for him to come in before everything they knew was revealed. He detangled himself from the tree, having no clue how he managed to tangle himself in there in the first place, and jumped out of it. He walked over to the bridge and poked Naruto, causing the unready boy to fall. "Hey, why'd you do that?" The screeching tones were even louder when yelled into his ear.

"Because it was funny. Anyway are guys ready?" He took their silence to mean yes. "These", he said holding two bells, "are your objective. If you want to pass then you will obtain a bell." He then stuck them on the back of his belt. "You will start in-"

"Sensei, why are there only two bells? There are three of us." Sakura interrupted him.

"Because only two of you will pass." Kakashi was very disappointed. He expected a look of shock or maybe a gasp of surprise instead he got blank looks. "I don't believe you. Why would there be three people assigned to a squad if only two could pass. The Hokage wouldn't allow something stupid like that." Kakashi glared at Naruto.

"Man you guys are no fun. Just go and do it anyway will you? Fine start when I say so…well I guess start." He was at loss when no one attacked him. Before Naruto had attacked him. Perhaps he'd have to talk the Hokage about what exactly he'd told the trio.

The three sprung into action, all hiding in the surrounding foliage. He shook his head. He knew he would have aroused someone's suspicions eventually he just didn't think it would have happened so early on.

* * *

When they hid they thought for sure that Kakashi would follow them but he really didn't. Instead, from what they could tell he was reading what appeared to be a rather humorous book, if his giggling was anything to go by.

The three looked at each other, their conversations echoing in each others minds reminding each other of how little they knew of one another.

"Perhaps we should tell each other the jutsu we're good at." Sakura suggested. The two boys, having no better ideas, agreed.

"I know Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, and Orioke no Jutsu." Naruto said ignoring the scowl that Sakura had at the mention of his last jutsu. It was obvious that she disapproved.

"Kanton: Goukakyu no jutsu." Sasuke said hoping that they would realize it was an impressive feat.

"Kawarimi no Jutsu and Kakuremino no Jutsu." Sakura stated slightly embarrassed at the fact that they were only basic academy jutsus that everyone should know.

"Alright I think I have a plan." It was strange to think how often Kakashi had heard those very words coming from Naruto. Usually it resulted in the boy achieving his goal. Unluckily for Kakashi he'd decided to leave the trio alone to their own devices. This, Kakashi realized in hindsight was probably a very bad idea.

As Kakashi stood, unsuspecting, reading of the adventures of fanboy and gothgirl, the trio of genin were beginning their plans.

Kakashi tore his eyes away from the captivating novel when he felt Naruto, Sasuke, all heading towards Kakashi's little grove.

As the trio entered his grove they pelted Kakashi with random kicks and punches from all directions. Kakashi was able to block them all until some fire jutsus came raining down from the trees. Kakashi was so distracted by the raining fire that he didn't notice Sakura sneaking up on him, in fact he didn't realize it until she already had the bells.

End of Chapter Three

* * *

_I was going to add more but I decided not to because I've spent two months writing this stupid thing. So if anyone notices any mistakes feel free to point them out. _


	4. Chapter four: The house

**Title: **Falling, per chance, to change

**Author:** nana chan the weird

**Rating:** PG-13

**Pairing:** Unknown as of yet.

**Summary**:Kakashi entered Hokage Tower sporting a slightly worn down look that few had seen since he last went on a mission with the ANBU. The whole of the Tower had already decided that Kakashi would fail his team, none of the other jounins were allowed to know whose team would pass so they always assumed that the hokage would never give him a team to pass.

**Author's note:** I feel obligated to mention that no this story will not KakashiXSakura. In fact, sadly, this story will have no pairings, at least not this early on. Even as the story progresses there will be no KakaSaku because there's too much of an age gap, like 18 years or actually for this story it would be like a 22 year age gap, which is kinda weird. So again since I know no one actually reads these things unless I caps something THERE WILL BE NO KAKASAKU IN THIS STORY!

**Recap**: As the trio entered his grove they pelted Kakashi with random kicks and punches from all directions. Kakashi was able to block them all until some fire jutsus came raining down from the trees. Kakashi was so distracted by the raining fire that he didn't notice Sakura sneaking up on him, in fact he didn't realize it until she already had the bells.

Chapter Four: The House

Kakashi entered Hokage Tower sporting a slightly worn down look that few had seen since he last went on a mission with the ANBU. The whole of the Tower had already decided that Kakashi would fail his team, none of the other jounins were allowed to know whose team would pass so they always assumed that the hokage would never give him a team to pass. There was a little more speculation then normal about them passing seeing that Kakashi did have the famous sole survivor of the Uchiha massacre but it was quickly written off when they found out about the boy's other team mates, there was no way that Hokage-sama would pass a team that had that loser's daughter and the troublemaking demon brat on it.

Ignoring the whispers and bets that were being placed around him, Kakashi entered the Hokage's office. The man looked up, rather unsurprised when he realized who it was. "Reporting the results of team seven's test—they passed. I assume you're not surprised though. I overheard something today that was really weird. You see, I heard that you told my team the answer to the bell test, but you would never do that would you?" The Sandaime stared unblinkingly at Kakashi; his eyes screaming that he was being stubborn. "At least tell me what it was you told them?" Again silence. "Fine, requesting permission to make team seven live together." Kakashi was not surprised when the Sandaime refused to answer his questions, he'd been expecting that but he was surprised when all the Sandaime did was nod his head and reply "permission granted" when he revealed his plan. Kakashi nodded his head. "We'll need a house." Kakashi so kindly pointed out. The Sandaime once again nodded. "You can have Yumi-san's old house, she moved in with the Nara's again." Kakashi agreed and left the Sandaime Hokage wondering what happened to make Kakashi so motivated about his team; maybe it was just being able to teach his sensei's son.



Kakashi decided to tackle his student that had parents first, after all she would be the easiest of the trio to convince into the plan. It was strange, in the early days of team seven Sakura had faded into the background only to come up if chakra control was included. She'd never stood out compared to the other two, her fight with Ino in the chuunin exams was the lowest level fight there. Once she became Tsunade's apprentice she stopped fading into the background and obtained a more central role in Konoha. But that was neither here nor there; now he had another thing to focus on. Kakashi arrived at her house and paused at the front door. He had a feeling that this would be harder then he had originally expected it to be. He knocked on the front door and heard noises: a pan banging down, a door opening and closing, and finally heavy footsteps getting louder by the second until they stopped in front of the door and it opened.

Kakashi stared at the face in front of him, and one slightly drunk Haruno Akira stared back at him. 'Must have just come back from the bar' Kakashi thought. "Hello Haruno-san, I'm Hatake Kakashi, your daughter's instructor."

The slightly woozy man gave Kakashi a hard look. "Come to tell us Sakura's team didn't pass? I know it didn't. There's no way a team with Sakura on it could pass. I told her as much this morning." To say that Kakashi was angry was understating it. He was furious, at himself for never noticing what this man had done to Sakura before, at Akira-san for his bias against Kunoichi, and at Tsume-san for not stopping Akira from belittling their daughter. He reminded himself to calm down, that he thought more rationally when he was calm but at that point he couldn't care anymore.

"As a matter of fact, your daughter's team did pass. I only came to tell you that she'd be moving out and living with the rest of team as a training exercise." There was fury in his eyes.

"That girl will never amount to anything. She's a disgrace, trying to be a ninja. Kunoichi are worthless. I bet she didn't even do anything in your bell test. I bet that Uchiha kid she goes on about did all the work." Sakura had heard the shouting and went to see what it was about. She'd just overheard what her father said and was surprised to say the least. Kakashi took in her face, her eyes were brimming with pain and anger, her mouth was open in shock, and her forehead was creased together like she was worried.

"Actually your daughter was instrumental in getting the bells. If not for her the other two would not have been able to pass." His voice came out hard and cold. He stepped past Akira and went over to Sakura. "Let's find your mom. I have to talk to her." Sakura gathered herself and nodded. They left the hallway heading towards the kitchen leaving a shell-shocked, confused Akira by the doorway.

Haruno Tsume was by the stove muttering to herself, "he doesn't like curry, he doesn't like sushi, what does he does like?" It still confused Kakashi how Akira and Tsume got along well enough to get married. "Hey mom, can we speak to you for a second? Kakashi-sensei needs to talk to you." Sakura's voice vibrated throughout the nearly empty kitchen. Tsume jumped what must have been three feet in the air. She put her hand on her heart hoping her heart beat would steady out and turned around to face them. "Oh my, Sakura you scared me. What did you need to talk about Hatake-san?"



"I'm very sorry to bother you so late Haruno-san but I really need to speak to you. I don't know if Sakura told you but her team passed." Tsume looked over at Sakura with a proud expression on her face. "Why didn't you tell me? Congratulations honey. I knew you could do it." Tsume engulfed Sakura in a hug, once she let go she turned back to Kakashi. "Thank you for telling me but somehow I get the feeling that that's not what you wanted to talk about." Kakashi chuckled a little.

"You're right. As part of a team building exercise from now on team seven will be living together, Sakura included. I realize this may be hard on you but it will be for a month maybe two depending on just how well these little tikes do." Sakura's eyes narrowed and she growled slightly. Tsume nodded, grinning slightly at Sakura's reaction to being called a little tike.

"Sakura why don't you go upstairs and start packing? I'll be up in a few minutes to help you." Sakura nodded and headed upstairs. Tsume turned back to Kakashi. "He's never laid a hand on her."

"What?" Kakashi asked surprised but knowing what, or rather who, she was talking about.

"I heard you guys fighting downstairs and I wanted to tell you that I haven't allowed him to lay a hand on her. He's a good father when he doesn't drink but he's been drinking more often now. Sakura's taken it pretty hard. She always had self-esteem issues and he's not helping it. If you could help her in anyway…"

"We'll do whatever we can."

"Thank you. I'd better go help her pack. Where are you going to be living?" Tsume asked.

"Takano Yumi's old house." Tsume nodded; something that she seemed to be doing a lot recently. Kakashi and she said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. Tsume went upstairs to help her daughter pack for her month away and Kakashi went to go and inform the other two of the plot, I mean plan.

Tsume sighed as she entered her daughters room. It seemed it was time to say farewell, not forever or anything like that but still a month seemed like a long time. She supposed that now that Sakura was a ninja she would have to get used to her being gone for long amounts of time when she went on missions with her team. It was a strange feeling, coming to terms with the fact that your little girl would be leaving you and be living with three guys, two of whom were her own age. Perhaps it was time for Sakura to get the "talk".

Naruto took the news of the change remarkably well, all things considering. He almost seemed happy to be living with his team mates, or maybe he was just happy to get out of his apartment it wasn't exactly the nicest. Naruto had relatively small amounts of things, or at least he did once Kakashi ruled out food including ramen, much to Naruto's disappointment, so they grabbed his stuff and put it in the new house.



Then they both then went to the Uchiha complex. It was a desolate place. The streets were empty and a feeling of loneliness permeated the air. Naruto turned to Kakashi, shocked and asked "This is where Sasuke-teme lives? Why is it so empty?" Kakashi nodded.

"I can't tell you. It's not my story to tell. If Sasuke wants you to know he'll tell you." Kakashi got the feeling that this would not be the last time this question would be asked. They continued on down the worn down paths until they reached the head of the clan's house, where Sasuke lived.

They searched the house and found him in the old weapons storehouse. He was polishing what looked like a three prong kunai, which when Naruto asked him what it was he revealed it to be a sai.

"Sasuke, we have a training trip. For the next month or two we will be living together as a team. Go pack." Sasuke was not happy. He didn't want to have to live with a girl who drooled over him and a guy who constantly tried to prove that he, Sasuke, was not all that.

"No." Kakashi blinked. He expected him to be trouble and to be reluctant but to outright refuse was not something that he thought would happen.

"No?" Kakashi asked, making sure that he had heard the boy correctly. Sasuke nodded.

"Why not? You can get away from this gloomy place. It'll be good for you. I'm pretty sure this place is haunted or something." Naruto was annoyed. There was no way that anyone actually liked living in such a depressing world. Sasuke glared at him. "What? Stop glaring at me you teme.I'm sure you hate being alone. I know that I do."

Sasuke was angry. "What would you know about loneliness?" He demanded, his face curled up into a sneer. "You can't miss what you never had. I heard all about little sob story from Sakura. You were an orphan who never had parents and grew up all alone, well let me let you in on a little secret. My brother, the person that I loved and adored the most in the world, killed my entire family- in front of me. The only person he left alive was me, he said that I was too weak to kill, that I wouldn't be worth the effort. So you take your version of loneliness and leave because you can't understand." Naruto stood there shocked about what he'd just learned. But regardless of how shocked he was he still had a comeback for the boy.

"I don't know what it feels like to be betrayed, your right; however, I don't even know what it feels like to be loved. The entire village hates me, for something that I had nothing to do with, as hard as that may be for you to believe. It wasn't until just a few days ago that I found out why I spent my entire childhood alone when, unlike you who obviously want nothing to do with others, all I wanted was friends or at least some company." At this point Kakashi felt it necessary to step in.

"I don't care if you want to come or not Sasuke, you will come or I will be forced to burn down the entire complex."

Kakashi looked at the trio in front of him. There was one sullen Uchiha, a hyperactive Naruto, and a slightly depressed Sakura.

"Well team, this will be where we're living for the next month or two." The house in front of them was seemingly run down. The paint was chipping off, the shutters were on their hinges, and an extremely tenacious species of vine could be seen weaving in and out of the walls. "You'll each have your own room. Sakura your's is black, Naruto pink, and Sasuke orange. Now hop to it. Oh and by the way your roooms can not be decorated and they will be kept clean." The three stood in shock, still looking at the house, wondering why they had to live in the decrepit old thing. They gave no outward sign that they understood Kakashi's orders.

Two hours later, the trio was all settled in and Kakashi had dealt out chores for them to do. Sasuke was in charge of dinner, since he was most likely the one with the most experience at cooking. Naruto had to deal with the trash and had to vacuum the floors. Sakura had to wash the windows, and mop the kitchen floor. Kakashi would handle the dishes, since the three genin instited it was only fair that he should do a chore too. While Sasuke was making dinner, Kakashi pulled Sakura aside.

"Sakura, I want to know what you think of Sasuke." The girl blushed and stammered around searching for the answer that would please her sensei. He nodded. "I understand Sakura. I thought that may be the way you felt about him. You know if you really want Sasuke to like you you have to become stronger. He really likes strong girls, plus then you could be useful to him, you really want that don't you?" Kakashi had not been looking at Sakura. If he had, he wouldn't have gone so far, well at least that's what he likes to tell himself. Sakura ran out of the room crying, he tried to follow but she left the house and he felt obligated to at least make sure Sasuke didn't burn the house down.

As Sakura ran she ignored her surroundings completely. She just wanted to run until everything disappeared, until there were no more problems and no more choices to be made. She felt like she could run to the end of Earth to find such a place. Or least she did until she ran into someone.


	5. Chapter Five: The encounter

**Title: **Falling, per chance, to change

**Author:** Nana chan the weird

**Rating:** PG-13

**Pairing:** Unknown as of yet.

**Summary**: "You wouldn't like me when I'm angry- it's not a very pleasant sight so late at night, trust me." It was only at this time that the women looked around for the person who could have caused the next great ninja war over a little dango.

**Author's note: **Hopefully by now everyone knows that there will definitely not be any Kakashi Sakura. This chapter was really hard for me to write, especially where Sakura meets who she ran into in the last chapter. To tell the truth this was supposed to be in the last chapter, it was suppose to end with their training, but I'm a lazy butt so I didn't write it out at all. Hopefully it doesn't seem forced, I think it does but who knows. Also I'm a freshmen in college, it took a while to get used to my new routine, which is why this chapter is so late, well partially anyway. Also it was weird for me not to write from Kakashi's point of view, I hope it wasn't too weird for you guys to read.

**Recap**: As Sakura ran she ignored her surroundings completely. She just wanted to run until everything disappeared, until there were no more problems and no more choices to be made. She felt like she could run to the end of Earth to find such a place. Or least she did until she ran into someone.

Chapter five: The encounter

Sakura looked up in shock as the person she ran into simply started to yell at her and brandish a kunai in her face without even asking for an explanation or looking to see who had committed such an obviously heinous crime. "Watch where you're going you little shit. You almost made me spill my dango and then I'd be very angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry- it's not a very pleasant sight so late at night, trust me." It was only at this time that the women looked around for the person who could have caused the next great ninja war over a little dango. Her angered face slightly faded as she stared down at Sakura. The poor girl looked slightly afraid for her life; she was cautiously eying the kunai that up until this point had been aimed directly at her throat. The woman looked around sheepishly and began to rub the back of her head, messing her hair up a little, while smiling apologetically. "Sorry about that. I suppose I scared you a little. I thought that you were someone else. So what are you doing out here running like your life depends on it?"

"Well my sensei, Kakashi-sensei, thought that it would be a wonderful idea to place my entire team in one house to live together for two months. Normally this wouldn't be a problem but I sort of have a crush on one of my teammates and Kakashi-sensei was trying to help me by pointing out that Sasuke-kun, my crush, likes girls that are strong. He even gave me a scroll of genjutsu to work on so that I could become stronger but I kind of took offense at him thinking that I wasn't strong so I ran away. It seems really stupid now." Sakura was about to cry as she thought of how she must have worried Kakashi who was only nice to her since the entire time that she had been on the team.

"What's your name pinky?"

'Why does everyone call me pinky?' Sakura wondered. "Haruno Sakura."

"I'm Mitarashi Anko. I've known Kakashi for quite a while and one thing I can assure you of is that he doesn't lie about things like that. Also the idiot is a man and I can assure that no matter what he might have said to you he didn't mean for it to be taken offensively at all. I'm positive he was just trying to help you. Come on let me take you back. Where are you staying?"

"Kakashi-sensei told my mother that it was Takano Yumi's old house."

Anko nodded her head. It was easy to see that the girl was regretting running away, especially now that she'd thought about why she left in the first place. "I know the place. Come on".

Sakura nodded and began to follow Anko. She looked up at the woman curiously. "Where did you learn to use a kunai like that? I don't think I've ever seen someone look so natural with a weapon before." Sakura was a curious girl and inquiring minds, or in this case one mind, wanted to know.

Anko looked and the pink-haired genin, she was surprised that the girl wanted to know. She had seen the look on her face before and knew that she had scared the girl half to death with her weapon of choice. "When I was five years old I got my first kunai from my parents- it was a birthday gift. The next day they went to war and I never saw them again. My sensei at the time thought that I should concentrate on ninjutsu as opposed to taijutsu so I never used them until I met Ibiki-san. He taught me how to use kunai and soon they were my favorite weapon. Sorry for scaring you earlier, if I had realized that you were a genin I wouldn't have gotten so hostile."

Sakura simply nodded her understanding and forgiveness. She filed away the name Ibiki as someone on the top of the list to avoid at all costs. She didn't think she'd be using a kunai anytime soon.

"So what do you think of your teacher?" Anko asked Sakura. There had been some strange rumors going around lately about Kakashi that worried her a bit more then was normal. At first she had brushed everything she heard off as being a lie but here before her was proof that not all the stories were lies. She had often swore that the day Hatake Kakashi took a team would be the day that Asuma stopped smoking those cancer-sticks, Kurenai's eyes would be a normal color, and she stopped eating dango; it was strange how things changed.

"He seems okay. He's a little weird- we don't know much about him except that seems to be late a lot. The Hokage asked us to keep an eye on him, he said that he was worried about Kakashi because he seemed different recently but I wouldn't know." She ended with a little shrug as to emphasize her lack of knowledge on the matter.

'So something is up with him, hmm. Well that's good to know but what was the Hokage thinking asking his genin to watch over him, how stupid do you get.' Anko thought. "Hey pinky, why are you telling me this stuff? How can you be sure that I'm to be trusted?"

"Well, number one- you're a Konoha jounin, just like Kakashi-sensei, number two- I've heard about you before, most people don't like you but I've heard that you're not much for gossiping, and number three, the most important one- my father says that you should not be trusted under any circumstances, meaning that I should probably trust you since nothing my father ever tells me is the truth." Anko thought about whom her father must be and then it hit her.

"Haruno Akira." Sakura simply nodded. Anko looked at Sakura a little more in a new light. The girl had to deal with her father hating kuniochi and still managed to have a little spunk in her. "You know what. I think I'm beginning to like you. If you ever need help don't hesitate to ask."

Sakura looked a bit shocked, she couldn't see what she had done to warrant such an offer but she wasn't about to refuse. It was a strange journey back to the place that Sakura had surprisingly caught herself thinking of as home. She hadn't even been there for a whole day but it still felt more like a home then she could ever remember her actual home feeling like.

As the duo reached the door to the house they heard loud voices.

"Maybe if you had been nice to her she wouldn't have left." Screamed a voice that Sakura identified as Naruto's dulcet tones. Somehow she could see where this was going.

"Maybe if you left her alone and didn't bother her constantly she would have stayed." Sakura was shocked. She'd never heard Sasuke's voice become that loud. Wait why were they fighting over her? Did they think that she'd left because of them? Gathering up her courage she said goodbye to Anko and opened the door.

Sasuke and Naruto were in the kitchen fighting. Sasuke had Naruto in a headlock. Naruto was bent over but when Sakura came in he straightened up and managed to flip Sasuke over his back. Sasuke caught himself from falling full force onto the floor and kicked Naruto's legs out from under him with a great thump. Kakashi came in and started to yell at the two of them- "I know that you're upset about Sakura but stop fighting. This is not the time or place for this fight." It seemed that no one had noticed her yet, which was strange, she was in their direct line of vision but they weren't exactly looking around the house at the moment she supposed.

She walked over to both Sasuke and Naruto and tapped them both on the shoulder. "Hey guys." They turned around and blinked at her, they looked like they couldn't believe that she was actually there. It wasn't like she blamed them, she had just sort of left without saying anything to them at all, no wonder why they were looking at her like she was some sort of alien that had come down from planet nine to invade their lives. She decided to pretend not to know what they were fighting about; it would give them an out so they didn't have to explain why they fought about her. "Why are you fighting? Did Naruto say something?"

Naruto made a face like a fish gasping for water when it's brought up to the air and managed to look offended at the same time. "Sakura-chan how can you imply something like that? I never start it; it's always Sasuke-teme." Sasuke shook his head, "this time it wasn't. We were fighting over what to have for dinner, he wanted ramen and I wanted anything but ramen." Sakura giggled a little, it did sound like something that the two would fight over. She was impressed by Sasuke's lying, it was better than most that she'd heard.

"Well if that's all then I can settle it. Tonight we'll have dango, I just met someone who really likes it and I wanted to try some." Listening to Anko go on about her precious food was enough to make anyone hungry for it. The boys simply nodded and Kakashi chuckled over the power that the sole girl of the team was already exhibiting against them.

"Sakura, may I talk to you for a moment?" Kakashi asked. She stared at him, she knew that this was coming but she had been dreading it still nonetheless. She nodded, and gulped, swallowing her fear and nervousness all in one try. She followed him up to her room, where they were before she had run away.

"I'm glad you're back Sakura, don't get me wrong, but why did you leave?" He looked at her with those eyes that could always seem to be searching your soul for the truth. She shifted on her feet a little, it was the weirdest thing being felt like someone could peer into your soul and know if you're lying.

"I was afraid of what you said, you were right, of course but I didn't want to admit it. I was afraid that agreeing with you would mean that I was admitting that I was weak. I don't want to be weak- I never did." Kakashi peered at the young girl and could understand. Admitting that you were weak was the hardest thing that a shinobi had to do. It was admitting that you weren't as good as you should, or could, be.

"I understand. Please don't leave again. You might not know it but both of the boys were worried about you. They both seemed to think that it was the others fault for your sudden departure." Sakura shook her head; she knew that he was telling the truth. She remembered what the two had been yelling at each other when she first came in.

"I won't, I'm sorry for worrying you guys." Kakashi nodded and sent the small girl downstairs to go make sure that the two boys didn't try and kill each other.

At the end of the day all three genin laid down their weary heads and fell into a deep sleep. It was strange how much they resembled their future selves, after all for all of their hard experiences and the changes that happened to the trio that they had yet to face they were still the same lost kids that he had met years ago.

He decided to let them sleep until five, he thought it a generous amount of time, after all they'd gone to sleep at one. Four hours was more than enough, but someone just had to disagree. Truthfully he had expected it, he'd even been accurately able to predict who would complain- not that it was that hard when his team had Naruto on it.

"What do you mean five is reasonable? In no way, shape, or form is this reasonable at all! You old coot." Now that old coot comment was just unnecessary.

"Naruto, run fifty laps around the hose, now. Once you're done come and join us at the training ground we used before." As Kakashi started to walk away, he saw a smirk forming on Naruto's face. "No cheating either, I'll know if you do." And with that Sasuke, Sakura, and Kakashi walked off leaving Naruto to his fate of exhaustion before the sun rises.

When they got to the training ground Kakashi procured two scrolls from his waist pouch and held them out to the duo in front of him. "Sasuke, I want you to start looking over these doton jutsus. Once Naruto gets here I want you to spar with him, spar only- no lasting injuries, got it?" The teen nodded, sulking slightly at it being insinuated that he would ever purposefully hurt Naruto. Okay so maybe he would, no harm in that right? Kakashi shook his head. "Sakura, this scroll has some basic genjutsu that I want you to learn. Also I will be helping you with your physical stamina. While you're studying the scroll I want you to lift these weights." He held up two small bags of rice. "They weigh five pounds. Until you memorize the scroll I want you to lift them. I'm warning you now, there's a back." Sakura eyed the bags wearily. Five pounds wasn't that much but after a while she had feeling it would get extremely tiresome.

The two went on to start doing as they were told. Time passed with a few accidents, Sakura tossing one of the five pound bags at Naruto when he arrived loudly messing up her concentration, and a slight incident that involved Sasuke, a shuriken, and a foot. But really it was nothing to worry about, nothing at all.

Or at least that's what Kakashi held to when the Hokage asked how the first day went. Then they went to a mission, it was a simple D-rank one that was just to catch fish. They would have finished hours ago if Naruto and Sasuke didn't refuse to work together and if Sakura didn't complain when she got wet and if they actually worked together but instead they wouldn't. After two hours Kakashi stopped them.

"Tell me, why did it take two hours to catch fish?" He asked the three of them. Immediately excuses came pouring out their mouths. "Naruto made too much noise and scared them all off." "Sasuke-teme kept annoying me." "Sakura complained about everything." They kept on going until Kakashi stopped them. "Enough. I'm not talking about what you **did** wrong, but what **didn't** you do that would have sped up the process?" The three looked at each other. Finally Sakura spoke up, "I could have strung together a net." Kakashi nodded, "very good. What about you Naruto?" The blonde boy bobbed his head up and down in thought. "I could have sharpened more spears for us to use." Kakashi nodded and looked expectantly at Sasuke. "I could have asked for, for h- he- help" The boy managed to get the word out, barely.

"Exactly, and from now on I expect you to all think of how you can help your team mates, not beat them." He directed a look in Sasuke's and Naruto's direction. "Well let's go back to the tower and go home.

Dinner that night was a quiet affair. All of them thinking about the day and what had happened. They all had tomorrow to look forward to.

End of chapter five


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